Here are some resources that I found helpful and can assist with getting students started collaborating. I have also included a few insightful resources that I found interesting and beneficial for educators. Enjoy and please feel free to provide feedback, input or add anything to this list of information.


iStock_ChildrenWorld-small.jpg
(Image was retrieved from World Children Fund)

Sites to check out when looking for that global connection

  1. Flat Classrooms- http://flatclassrooms.ning.com/
  2. The Global Education Collaborative- http://globaleducation.ning.com
  3. ePals Global Community- http://www.epals.com/

The Flat Classroom site- The site is very active, there is evidence of usage yesterday with a listed 1,614 members. I did not have a hard time finding this site and it is very easy to navigate. The site does require a free membership sign up.

The Global Education Collaborative- The next site that I have included is a little different from the others. There are over 5,000 members and the page has a “latest activity” section, which shows how many hours ago someone posted. There is an event section where some projects are posted among other things as well as a discussion forum that includes projects too. This page has the user friendly appeal that the other sites do and I enjoyed it’s layout and colors.

ePals Global Community- The third site that I have included makes a claim on their home page that they are the “World’s Largest K-12 Learning Network.” That statement alone caught my immediate attention. I did not notice an area that identifies the exact amount of members, but there is a scrolling feature on the home page that lists “Today’s New Classrooms” and it is a large list of different countries all over the world with a link to their profile, which tells me that the site is very active. The site is labeled very well and I thought it was very easy to navigate. There is a project link tab that is very user friendly. This site seems to be the most appealing for me as a teacher and there is an option to search for things by country.

Below are a few websites that I found helpful and provide Web 2.0 tools and links
Cool Tools for Schools

Go 2 Web 2.0


I have also included a few articles that I found interesting and insightful

Edudemic

Mind Shift Blog

Lastly, I have included my own opinion and summary of a few Web 2.0 tools that I have utilized within my classroom from time to time. I certainly have found the Web 2.0 tools that work the best for my current students, but with this ever changing world that we live in I am looking forward to discovering new tools to use and new ways to use them within my classroom.

Google Doc- Web 2.0 Tools review